


Maybe Fate Will Catch Us As We Fall

by deerna



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Getting Back Together, Light Angst, M/M, Making Up, Post-Recall, mention of injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 01:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13893192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deerna/pseuds/deerna
Summary: Genji and McCree meet again during the Recall, and they realize that things aren't the same as they were in Blackwatch anymore. A chance to start again.Their days in the Recalled Overwatch were like family pictures from another universe. Many things were just as Jesse remembered them- but right when he was sinking in the illusion of having travelled ten years in the past, a tiny detail yanked him back in the present.Like the sound of that laughter.





	Maybe Fate Will Catch Us As We Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Fill per la M5 della Ottava Settimana del COWT di [Lande Di Fandom](www.landedifandom.net).  
> Title from [Intimacy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8oKz_esZtM) by Dropout.

“Well, now I recognize you.”

Sitting up on a table, missing an arm and half a leg, and with a dent ruining the line of his raised faceplate, Genji let out a surprised bark of laughter, sharp and amused like Jesse had never heard before. 

Their days in the Recalled Overwatch were like family pictures from another universe. Many things were just as Jesse remembered them- but right when he was sinking in the illusion of having travelled ten years in the past, a tiny detail yanked him back in the present.

Like the sound of that laughter.

He wasn’t complaining; Jesse remembered fondly his Blackwatch days, but the memories weren’t all good. Overwatch today had a refreshing, optimistic vibe that he never could quite appreciate with the old organization; on paper, Blackwatch and Overwatch were the two faces of the same coin- but in reality, nobody really trusted a blue coat. Maybe it was that the new Overwatch didn’t really have an official uniform, that made a difference to him; or maybe it was that they were a bunch of glorified criminals trying to do the right thing from the shadows, like he’d always done back in the day. Jesse wanted to enjoy every last minute of it.

Seeing Genji again had been awkward at best, emotional at worst. 

They had left each other on less than amicable terms- or no terms at all. One day Genji was on base, unclicking his mask off to reveal one of his rare, scarred, stretched smiles, and the next day he was gone, quiet like smoke, as if he never existed. When Jesse had gone looking for him, they’d told him that Genji had been borrowed by Overwatch, whisked away on a top secret mission that was above Jesse’s level of clearance- he would’ve been back, one day. But by then Blackwatch was crumbling to pieces, and Reyes was crumbling to pieces, and Jesse’s world was crumbling to pieces, and he just couldn’t stay. 

It was really strange how life had them meet again. 

“What gave me away?” Genji asked, teasing. “My flawless sword technique? My excellent sense of humour? My state-of-art artificial fiber ass?” 

Jesse snorted. “More like, the fact that you recklessly threw yourself in the line of fire with absolutely no sense of self-preservation, you asshole,” he quipped, cuffing him on the intact arm and wincing when his hand struck the metal. 

He wondered if there was still flesh under the chromed plate. 

Genji’s new armor was accented in green and covered him up from head to toe. Used to glowing red, scarred glimpses of flesh and threatening looks, Jesse had had a hard time to recognize him for who he was, at first. He’d looked like a stranger. He’d sounded like a stranger.

_Who are you, and what have you done to Genji?_

The ninja was still smiling, but he had the good grace of giving a sheepish grimace at the remark. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair.” He started tinkering one handed with something on the side of his helmet until the catch finally clicked open. “Oof, that’s better,” he exhaled, taking it off.

Without the shiny metal around his brow and jaw, his head looked smaller; the black, rubbery material that encased and framed his face was less bulky than Jesse remembered it, too. There were no tubes dangling from the back of his head, but just a scrap of fabric, the tails of a black scarf that he’d tied over his hair to cover it, before Genji pulled that off, too. 

His hair was cropped close to his skull, still glossy black but for an irregular stripe of silvery strands following a scar on his scalp. It was shorter than it was in Jesse’s memories, and his mind itched with the curiosity of running his fingers through it. 

Jesse was aware that he was staring, but he really couldn’t help it.

“Are you sure you don’t mind keeping me company? Angela- I mean, doctor Ziegler said that it’s gonna take a while for the machines to finish printing all the parts.” Genji’s eyes weren’t red anymore, fixed on a point in the distance, half lost in a thousand miles stare and half focused on some data projected on his contact lenses; they were brown and soft, flitting from one side to the other of the workshop, studiously avoiding to look at Jesse.

“Don’t worry, darling,” Jesse drawled, finally giving in to the ache in his kneecaps and sitting on the table next to Genji. “You know me, I’m not a great conversationalist, but when you’re in need of long, awkward silences- I’m your man.” 

Genji snorted, shooting a glance at him and Jesse smiled back. 

“Is it strange that I missed this?” he said again, so quietly Jesse almost didn’t catch it.

“What, getting destroyed during a mission?”

Again that sharp, loud laughter. Jesse’s stomach made a flip when he realized that he was going to hear it all the time, now. He looked forward to get used to it. 

“No, I meant- this.” Genji gestured to the both of them, voice going back to a sober tone. “Getting to go on missions together, fighting together- having you around.”

_I wasn’t the one who left_ , Jesse wanted to say, expecting anger to bubble up in his blood- but the burn never came. He just licked his lips, dry and itchy, and he started looking for the half smoked cigarillo he had put away earlier while Angela was looking Genji over. Found it in the pocket of his jeans, he fished it out and shoved it in his mouth, unlit. 

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s been weird for me, too, not having you around. Waitin’ for missions to start without a grumpy, broody ninja on board staring down the new recruits until they pissed themselves in fear- it just wasn’t the same thing. It was so boring I quit,” he drawled.

With another huff of laughter, Genji elbowed him. “You always tried to make me laugh.”

Jesse scooted closer, and pushed their shoulders together. “It’s almost too easy now,” he said, mimicking Genji’s quiet tone. “You’ve changed, Genji.”

Genji didn’t reply to that, a thin smile on his face, eyes turned down. 

For a long time the only thing filling the silence was the buzzing and the crackling from the machine behind them, noisily 3D printing Genji’s new limbs; then Genji started drumming his fingers against the remains of his torn off leg. The repetitive, hollow clicking gave Jesse the creeps; he instinctively grabbed Genji by the wrist, pulling the nervous hand on his own leg, smoothing it out against his jeans clad thigh. 

“I’m really sorry, for what it’s worth,” Genji muttered, and from his tone Jesse knew he wasn’t talking about the annoying noise. “I don’t know how to do this.” 

They’d exchanged quick, snarky lines while they waited to be extracted from some shithole operation, between missions, in the middle of sex. Though he knew they were going to have to a serious conversation about it, about _them_ , one day or the other, Jesse wasn’t going to blame Genji for not knowing how to do it. He had no clue, either.

Breath catching a little at the weird intimacy of it, Jesse turned his hand around and tangled their fingers together, exhaling when Genji squeezed his hand.

“We’ll figure it out.” 


End file.
